n to the
beach. Notwithstanding their enormous size, these people when they ran
were so nimble, that none of the Spaniards or Portuguese could overtake
them.

They had not, however, much intercourse with these savages; they here,
however, obtained some pearls from oyster-shells which they fished up.
Proceeding south, they in a short time came off two islands, so thickly
covered with seals and penguins that they might easily, in the course of
a few hours, have laden all their ships with them. The penguins were
black, heavy-looking, unwieldy fowl, extremely fat, covered with a sort
of down instead of feathers, having bills like those of ravens. Fish
appeared to be their only food.

Continuing south until they reached latitude 49 degrees 30 minutes, the
weather becoming very tempestuous, with a contrary wind, they put into
harbour, hoping that the wind would soon change, when they might
continue their course. In this, however, they were disappointed. Day
after day went by, and the weather only grew worse and worse. It was
evidently the winter of that region, though on the other side of the
line it was summer. This caused no small astonishment to the crews.
They went on shore, but finding no inhabitants, believed that they had
arrived at some desert region of the world. The wind blew fearfully
hard, with sleet and rain, and being ill provided to meet the inclemency
of the season, they preferred living on board.

One day they had landed for the sake of exercise, when, to their
surprise, they saw a human being approaching them. He was a big fellow,
and strongly built, his body painted all over, with a stag's horn on
each cheek and large circles round his eyes. The natural colour of his
skin, as far as could be perceived, was yellow, and his hair was of a
light tint. His only garment was the skin of a beast roughly sewn
together, covering his whole body and limbs from head to foot. In his
hand he carried a stout bow, and his arrows, instead of having iron
heads, were tipped with sharp stones. As he advanced he began singing
and dancing, and as he got nearer he stood for some time throwing dust
upon his head. The Spaniards imitating him, he came close up to them
without any signs of fear. Being invited to go on board the ships, he
willingly stepped into a boat. The Spanish chronicler declares that so
big was he, that the tallest of their number only reached up to his
waist; but as no persons of a stature so g